The Kendrapada Town police on Tuesday arrested 12 persons in connection with the assault on Marshaghai Block Development Officer (BDO) Sushant Kumar Pati in his official residence in the Kendrapada township area on April 18.
The arrests were made after police raided several places for the purpose. The arrested persons have been identified as Ramesh Chandra Panda of Kajala village, Baladev Singh of Badahat, Annanta Kar of Bhagabanpur, Hemant Mansingh of Chatarapatana, Subhakanta Patro of Baniamala, Prakash Sahu of Ganamahal, Rajesh Pradhan of Gopa, Sarojkanta Behari of Thakurapatana, Debashis Das and Pradeep Nath of Kasoti, Sanatan Muduli of Jantilo and one Pranab Mohanty.
All the arrested were produced before the SDJM court here and they were remanded into jail custody after their bail petitions were rejected by the court, said district Superintendent of Police Rabi Narayan Behera. Behera said police have ‘evidence’ against the attackers. Most of the arrested belong to the Opposition Congress and the BJP. Police are also searching for more accused in the case, he said.
Although prohibitory orders were lifted from most places on Monday, the same will remain in force in Ali, Rajkanika and part of Mahakalpada police station area till Friday, Behera said.
Notably, Pati’s wife Dibyamayee Das had lodged an FIR in Kendrapada Town police station against 600 people alleging that they brutally attacked her husband and misbehaved with her besides ransacking their residence.
On the other hand, official work has come to a standstill due to the pen-down agitation by the OAS officers in the district. The officers while continuing their agitation for the second day wore black badges protesting police failure in nabbing the BDO attackers.
Female OAS officers of the district urged the district Collector and the SP to provide them security. “As we feel insecure after the incident, we have demanded security, said Sumitra Pattnaik, Derabish Tehsildar.
Meanwhile, some functionaries of the Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) Association met DGP Prakash Mishra at the police headquarters in Cuttack and submitted a memorandum seeking stern steps against the people, who attacked Pati.
A meeting of the association held on Monday under chairmanship of Additional District Magistrate Umakant Swain had taken the decision of staging pen-down agitation while condemning the attack on Pati in strongest terms. Apart from demanding immediate arrest of the attackers, the association also sought adequate compensation for Pati towards defamation and loss of property caused to him due to the assault.
The officers’ body have warned to resort to a State-wide agitation if the Government fails to respond positively to their demands.
The Cuttack district unit of the association also extended their support and wore black badges in protest of the attack on the BDO and the alleged failure of the police.
Earlier, the association had threatened to boycott poll duty, including the counting of votes on May 16, if its demand were not met by Monday.
Earlier, a delegation of the association led by its secretary Jyoti Ranjan Mishra had on Saturday met Chief Electoral Officer Dr Mona Sharma and submitted a memorandum to her in this respect.
Notably, Marsaghai BDO Pati was on Friday physically assaulted by a mob at Kendrapada town after a vehicle loaded with 28 pairs of EVMs was found parked in front of his official residence. Suspecting that the EVMs were being taken to the officer’s residence for tampering, the supporters of Opposition parties assaulted him and others, besides ransacking his residence.
later, district Collector Nitin Bhanudas Jawale clarified that the EVMs seized from near Pati’s house were unused and reserved ones.
In another development, several BJP leaders met Jawale and demanded that steps be taken soon to arrest the Marshaghai BDO for allegedly taking EVMs to his residence to tamper them. The leaders also demanded that the arrested be freed soon.
Jawale said re-polling would be conducted in booth number 185 in Jenavaliwibad Primary School under Ali Assembly constituency on April 25.